Birds on a Wire
by Oreana Galena
Summary: When Lola-Na's best friend and charge, Lily-An, becomes deathly ill, Lola-Na tries her best to win at the chocobo races at the Gold Saucer only to encounter a road blocking rivalry with Remington. (Remington x OC) (Thunderhawk x OC)
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's Notes**_: I guess with FF7 discounted insanely well on Steam, I'll take that as a sign to kick myself in the butt here and get to work on this story.

This story was plotted to be in another fandom of my choice years ago, but I am relieved that it didn't take off now that my fandom priority has shifted. The whole chocobo raising was a favorite pastime of mine, so it only felt fair that I make it a fanfic. The crossover will only be via scenery means and chocobos—not with FF7 characters.

_**Description**_: When Lola-Na's best friend and charge, Lily-An, becomes deathly ill, Lola-Na tries her best to win at the chocobo races at the Gold Saucer only to encounter a road blocking rivalry with Remington. (**NC-17-will be edited here to an R rating**) (**Remington x OC**) (**Thunderhawk x OC**)

_**Musical Inspiration**_: Do I need anything beyond Final Fantasy 7 music of awesome? I think not.

_**Copywrite**_: Lola-Na/ Bronze/ Matsu-Na / Cocoa / Syrup / Chester/ various other chocobos – Kurodemangaka

Lily-An/ Brownie/ Ruby/ Elli-An/ Quill / various other chocobos – Oreana

Brotherhood of Guardians / Remington – Archie/ Penders

Final Fantasy 7 locations / chocobos – Squaresoft (as it was called once upon a time)

* * *

Brushing the snow from his pants, Bronze slowly removed himself from the ground where he had been sitting previously to merely watch over the corralled chocobos as the sun was going down. The echidna was halfway to his feet when he felt his nine-year-old daughter fling herself onto his back. "Daddy!" she whistled through her missing front tooth.

Bronze nearly fell over, but was relieved he caught himself in time. Turning to the small chocolate furred child with shoulder length dark auburn hair, he greeted his daughter with a lighthearted chuckle. "Hey there, Lola-Na!" Fixing her in his arms, he tossed her up in the air before catching her again to sweetly rub noses together. "What brings you out here? It's the coldest it has ever been at the Icicle Inn."

"Mommy wanted me to get you for dinner," Lola-Na said with a giggle as she ran her fingers through his black beard.

Kissing Lola's cheek, he gently placed her back down in the snow. "I know, kitten, but right now I need to get these birds into the barn." Bronze placed his hands on his hips as he could see his daughter getting a bit excited at the idea. He smirked at her bottled enthusiasm. "Do you want to help me get them in the—?"

"Yes!" Lola-Na interrupted, grabbing onto his pants leg to tug on it eagerly. "I want to help with the birdies!"

"Well-I-slow down, Lola!" Bronze called after her, chasing her through the snow and to the gate with her.

Matsu-Na was busy setting the table when the two finally returned home. Her sharp eyes couldn't help but narrow a bit more at how late they were. "What exactly took you two so long?" she asked, moving back to the stove to pull the vegetable soup from where it had remained to keep hot.

"Sorry about that, my love," Bronze apologized with a sheepish grin whilst rubbing his wild, black hair. "I fear my daydreaming got away with me, and I needed Lola-Na's help in getting the birds back to the stables for the night."

Seeing Lola-Na about to reach for one of the fruits on the table in the basket, Matsu-Na was quick to stop her. "No, no, Lola. If you're been handling the birds, you need to wash your hands first." The pouty look didn't deter Matsu from her stance on the idea. She was quick to glance at her husband as well. "You as well, Bronze."

Bronze smiled at his wife as he made his way to the sink with the stepping stool for Lola-Na.

"What has you in such a daydream anyways?" Matsu-Na asked, grabbing up the basket of bread next with the plate of butter. "Normally you're pretty good about getting your chores done way before dinner is ready."

"Mm? Oh, I was just thinking about Syrup, is all," said Bronze, still showing his mind was apparently elsewhere. "She's been acting a bit funny and territorial lately. I've yet to get close enough to check, but I think she's pregnant, finally, with Chester's clutch." Bronze had been desperately trying to breed Syrup lately, as she was one of his prized racing birds he had set aside for breeding purposes. While Chester and Syrup seemed like a good match, he couldn't get the two to produce any eggs for awhile now. "This is merely speculation, of course," continued Bronze as he helped Lola-Na dry her hands off before taking her spot at the faucet. "Like I said, I fear that beak of hers."

"Rightfully, you should," Matsu-Na commented as she had everything lined out on the table finally. "Just slip something into her feed, and she'll be out long enough for you to check her over, I am sure." Helping her daughter down at the table finally, she waited on her husband as she took her seat. "Speaking of babies, however, I hear that Elli-An and Quill are about to have their baby any day now."

"That nice lady that always sells the blankets she makes?" Lola-Na asked, wanting to be added into the conversation for a moment. Her parents and the 'blanket maker's' family were pretty close with her own.

Matsu-Na smiled. "Yes, baby. That's Elli-An."

Reaching for his empty mug, he poured the hot, herbal tea into it halfway before offering some hot chocolate to his daughter as Lola-Na was never too keen on many of the herbal teas her mother made. "How she manages to make those quilts is beyond me." As he worked on serving himself and helped his child as well, Bronze could only enjoy a few bites until the phone began to ring. "Wonder who is calling us at dinner time?"

Watching her husband excuse himself to answer it, Matsu-Na called over her shoulder to him, "Answer it quickly, darling. I don't want your meal getting cold."

Bronze assured her he would as he answered the phone. "Bronze here."

"Bronze!" a frantic voice called over the line. "It's Quill! I know you're probably eating right now, but I need your help immediately!"

"Wh-What is it? Wh-What's wrong?" Bronze stammered as he wasn't used to hearing his friend in such a rut before.

"My wife—Elli-An—she's gone into labor, and the midwife won't be able to make it until hours from now." His voice was stressed, and Bronze could just hear the painful cries from Elli in the background. "I know you mostly do bird birthings, but you're the only person close enough who can help me!"

_Well, it's an egg birthing either way_, Bronze thought to himself to try and calm the rising nervousness. Elli's cry of pain over the phone brought him back from his thoughts.

"Will you come!" Quill exclaimed more than questioned, hoping his friend would help his wife.

"Let me grab my things, and I will be right there. Just get a bowl of cold water and fresh towels in the meantime," Bronze insisted before hanging up the phone. Cutting through the nearby room, Bronze hurried up the stairs and to his bedroom to find the medicine he would need as well as the kit he usually had with him when it came to his birds' birthing. As he hurried back down the stairs and to the kitchen, his wife was quick to stop him.

"What is wrong, Bronze? Where are you going?" she asked, her voice hinting that she probably overheard a portion of the conversation he had in the other room.

"Elli-An is in labor," Bronze explained hastily as he placed his hand on the doorknob of the front door. "Quill is not sure what to do as their midwife won't make it till much later on, so I am his best bet." He was hoping his nervousness in the situation wasn't obvious in how he spoke, so he forced a smile on his muzzle all the same. "I will be back later, my love. Keep my dinner in the fridge—please and thank you." And with that said, Bronze hurried out the door and through the snow to Quill's house.

"Just hold on, my love," pleaded Quill as he held his wife's hand tightly in regards to support. Upon hearing the knock at the door, the pitch-black echidna male turned his head quickly in the direction of the sound. "It's open!" he yelled, relieved more than anything that it was his neighbor and friend. "Bronze! Thank the Gods you came!"

Bronze made it quickly to the sofa with where Elli-An remained. She was too fixated on the pain to notice who was there, it seemed, as she didn't bother to open her eyes to gaze upon him. "Did you get the water and the towels I asked for?"

"Yes—of course!" Quill moved the bowl of cold water closer to Bronze with the towels he had managed to fetch (and had unfolded rather quickly in his eagerness to get back to his wife).

"Elli-An," Bronze called, moving her hair, which was damp with sweat, from her face to get a better look at the white as snow female echidna. When he saw her pastel violate eyes look at him, he grabbed one of the smaller towels to dip it into the water, wring it out, and then use it to keep her cool. "I'm here to help, okay? I have something that should dull the pain a bit for you."

It was an herbal concoction he had made in his spare time when it came to his birds. He was aware that anthros and humans could also take it—the douse would just have to be regulated as the birds required a higher intake of it. Quill recognized it all the same, as he was usually over at the farm to help with the chocobos, and he couldn't help but feel his fur prickle. "Is that…what I think it is?"

"You asked the aid of a bird breeder and racer," Bronze reminded his friend as he got the syringe out to measure the douse cautiously. "Your wife is going to get the same thing I give my birds." He thought for a moment that Quill would for sure slap him given the anger that was soon expressed on his face. "Relax," chuckled the dark brown male. "I made this from scratch thanks to the help of a few other breeders, and it is all natural. Even we can have this as a pain laxative."

"I don't…care what it is…just-just give it to me…!" Elli-An begged as she felt another contraction hit.

Bronze did as she demanded, mainly because he was sure Quill didn't want to see his wife in pain for much longer. Upon finishing the injection, he put the needle off to the side before checking to see how far along she was since Bronze hadn't asked his friend how long his wife had been in labor. Seeing a portion of the egg, he figured it must have been awhile until Quill gave up and called him as a last resort. "Alright, let's get this baby out of here before she egg-binds. Elli-An—I need you to push hard for ten seconds on the next contraction you feel, alright?"

At best, all Elli-An could do was nod at his request. Being wrapped up in the agonizing grip of pain she was in, she had lost count of the hours or so she had been in labor and desired to rest. With Quill soon at her side, she held onto his hand tightly while her teeth gritted at the next contraction, which prompted her to push as instructed.

None of them paid attention to the time that had elapsed as they continued to get Elli-An through it. When the soft pink egg was soon resting in Bronze's hands, which were concealed with rubber gloves and marked with blood and afterbirth, he worked on washing the egg clean and then putting it carefully in the container that would keep it warm and protected until it was to hatch. "How is she?" Bronze asked, as he noticed Elli-An's heavy breathing had died down to mere, exhausted whimpers.

"Just exhausted, I wager," said Quill as he continued to gently dab away at the beads of sweat, which had weighed down his lover's fur. "How is the egg?"

"There's not a single crack on it. She dyed it pink with…whatever it was she had been eating," Bronze pointed out, knowing that the shell could be dyed a certain color, even when it came to chocobos, regarding food choices. "So I will not let your son live it down if there is a boy in there," he lightly teased.

Quill scoffed with a shake of his head. "Blame it on the strawberries she consumes like candy. I am sure that was the culprit."

Making it back over to the sofa, he removed the towel from between Elli-An's legs to put off to the side in a nearby laundry basket Quill had dragged in from the laundry room before using another of the towels to help clean up the exhausted female. "I also have some calcium tablets I can give to you to hand to Elli when she wakes up. I noticed she had the worst time ever trying to push the egg out. It could be from calcium deficiency." Digging into his bag he had brought with him, Bronze pulled out the bottle to put on the coffee table near the sofa. "Might want to give her two of those a day to help her get that back up to speed."

Making a confused face, Quill looked at the bottle to see how many was in it. "I don't understand it—she was pretty good about eating salmon and drinking plenty of milk. Why would she lack so much calcium?"

Bronze made a funny face (as if to flinch playfully at the lack of knowledge Quill had in understanding these things). "You're talking about a woman about her size eating enough calcium for herself and to produce the shell of something the size of a watermelon at the same time."

"All the same, I thank you, my friend." Quill released a sigh of relief that his wife and his baby were alright. "I should spare the midwife and just call you more often for when my wife gives birth."

Rolling his eyes, Bronze packed up his belongings bit by bit. "This was a one time only thing unless you absolutely need me, Quill. I do chocobo birthings…not anthros or human birthings." Feeling Quill's hand on his shoulder, Bronze reached over and placed his hand on top of his reassuringly. "I'll help you clean up, and then I better get back home to Matsu-Na and Lola-Na."

Quill had apologized once more for pulling Bronze from his dinner, but after such an exciting event, his nerves had shot his desire to eat, in all honesty. It was nearing close to eleven o'clock when Bronze made it back home. Opening the front door, he was greeted by the vision of his wife—who was prepared for bed with her long, auburn hair braided over her shoulder and in her nightdress—sitting at the empty kitchen table with nothing but a candle to illuminate the space. When her eyes caught his, he granted her a confused smile. "Why are you up so late?" 'Late' to them was usually anytime after ten seeing as the farm required them to be up before the sun rose about four or so in the morning.

"I was worried," Matsu-Na admitted tenderly as she fidgeted there at the wooden table before finding her legs to wander over to her husband. "How are Elli-An and her baby?"

Putting his bag down upon the kitchen table, he slid his arms about his lover's waist to hold her supportively. "They are just fine. We won't know what she'll have until three days pass, of course. However, the egg looked perfectly healthy to me." Kissing her sweetly upon her lips, he whispered to her. "Now, go to sleep. I'll be behind you, my angel."

Hugging him tightly once more, Matsu-Na's smile could just be seen upon the flickering candlelight in the room. "You shouldn't sleep on an empty stomach," she insisted just as gently in return. "You hardly ate anything at dinner."

Bronze waved away the idea with a weary stretch. "My stomach is too knotted from the ordeal to bother with food, my dear."

"At least eat a slice of bread with butter or something." Matsu-Na took her husband's hand and kissed the back of it before pulling from his embrace. "Don't be long. You need your rest."

With Matsu-Na on her way to their bedroom, she left the candle behind for her husband since they preferred the old fashioned way of lighting at times over electric for their home. It lessened the bill all the same. He knew his wife was right. Going to bed on an empty stomach would make him feel sick when he woke the coming morning. Moving to the fridge, he found the container of raspberries and blackberries and popped four of each into his mouth to suffice for the time being before heading quietly to his daughter's bedroom, which was on the lower floor.

He opened her bedroom door to peer into her lightless space. Putting the candle down on the table just outside of her room, Bronze snuck across the floorboards, which gave out the occasional sigh upon his weight, to check on Lola-Na. Seeing the stuffed chocobo toy he had won years ago at the Gold Saucer in her arms, he smiled to himself before noticing the chapter book she had there with her as well in the bed. _Guess she fell asleep reading_, he thought to himself as he took the book and put it on her nightstand before trying to tuck her in a bit better.

"Daddy…?" Lola-Na moaned, lazily wiping the exhaustion from her ivy green eyes.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Bronze whispered apologetically, "I didn't mean to wake you."

Since his arm was the closest thing to her at the moment, she wrapped her arms about it wearily. "Is the blanket maker okay…?"

Bronze stifled a throaty laugh at how tired she sounded. Running his fingers through her hair, he kissed her forehead. "She's just fine, baby; now, go back to bed." Bronze helped his daughter get situated under the covers before kissing her goodnight once more. "Sweet dreams, Lola. I love you."

With an exhausted yawn, Lola-Na managed to get out an 'I love you' before falling back asleep.

Hearing Lola-Na pass right back out for bed, Bronze made his way back out into the hallway to grab up his candle and head up the stairs to get himself to bed for the evening.

* * *

Knowing her husband had quite the evening yesterday, Matsu-Na let her husband rest longer than usual (even if he'd probably get irritated she turned off his alarm and wouldn't wake him herself). "Who is going to take care of the chocobos then if you won't wake daddy?" Lola-Na asked at breakfast as she ate her cereal.

"I can do that, honey," Matsu-Na reminded her daughter as she wiped her hands on her apron after getting a bit of grease on them. "I've been helping your father with the farm since we were dating. I know what to do. Shoveling a bit of the snow about the pasture will be a bit troublesome without him, but I can manage."

Bronze remained fast asleep until the piercing light of the sun roused him to slowly open his eyes. Seeing the sun so bright made Bronze wonder if he was dreaming at first until he came to the quick realization he wasn't. Shooting upright in bed, he grabbed the alarm clock to look at the time and notice it was creeping towards nine in the morning. "Dammit…!" Throwing off the covers, he hastily put on his wristwatch and his jeans he had tossed there beside the bed. While he was aware his wife was trying to allow him more rest, Bronze valued the farm and the birds as much as she, and hated it when she saddled herself with all the chores for a few hours. "_**MATSU-NA!**_" he yelled disapprovingly, only to get no response from the house, making him assume she was outside in the pasture.

Dashing to the window, he threw open the curtains to see her filling the troughs with feed still while bundled from head to toe. Swearing to himself once more, he quickly brushed his hair before throwing on his shirt and grabbing a scarf and a hat to keep warm in the early hours. "Matsu-Na! Dammit, woman!" he yelled to his wife.

"Don't give me that, Bronze," Matsu said with a disapproving tone herself at his words. "You were out late, and you needed your sleep." As she filled the next trough with feed, two of the birds almost didn't let her finish and attempted to use their big beaks to push her out of the way eagerly for food. "Gluttons," she grumbled, pushing back the soft-blue male chocobo that was almost trying to nip away at the bag she had.

"You can't do all of these chores by yourself," Bronze pointed out, as he took the other bag of feed for himself to place over his shoulder. "The birds should have been fed by now, but you're taking so long they're about to knock you over just to get to it! I don't need my wife trampled or pecked to death by a bunch of hungry birds!"

Matsu-Na sighed with a roll of her eyes. "I thought people were usually grumpy when they didn't get _**enough**_ sleep."

With the birds fed and the stalls cleaned, Bronze's focus went back on Syrup to notice her acting hissy to any of the birds getting close to her. His gloved fingers tapping upon the fence's woodwork, which was covered in snow, he hummed in thought. "How did she react this morning?" Bronze asked Matsu-Na, as she too was watching her closely to see what her husband had been talking about when it came to Syrup's random change in behavior.

"She acted fine with me," said Matsu-Na with a shrug. "Guess it's just with other birds she acts territorial?"

"Probably because of the whole 'alpha' of the herd sort of thing," Bronze theorized as he chipped away at something that was on his lower tooth. "She won't get mad at us unless she feels she has to. I know if I go checking her over, she will peck at me if it is babies that are inside of her."

As he was about to go into the enclosure, he was stopped by the sudden arrival of Quill. "Bronze!" he called, sounding about as frantic as he did last night.

"Quill…? What's wrong this time?" he asked, hoping that Elli-An and the egg were fine as they appeared so last night.

"It's the egg—it's hatching already…!" While eager to meet his child, Quill was concerned all the same as it was far too early for the child to hatch.

"I'll be right back, Matsu-Na," said Bronze eagerly as he hurried behind Quill to see what could be causing a baby to be born so early. Making it back to his friend's house, he saw Elli-An there on the sofa still with the egg wobbling slightly with a few cracks in the pink shell there in the same container he had left it within previously.

Elli-An looked at Bronze with a pleading and confused gaze through her wild, white bangs. "I-I don't understand…why is it hatching so soon…!"

"The baby is just an early starter, I guess." Bronze, honestly, was trying to hide his real concerns at the idea the baby could crawl out and be premature. Watching the egg continue to wobble and, soon, move to its side, he did his best to try and help the child out of the egg. When he saw the little muzzle poke through the shell, he began to carefully peal away at it until a tiny echidna lie there before them—most of the fur was white, like the mother, but not without its black markings upon the tiny tuff of hair and dreadlocks.

Quill was quick to hand the towel over to Bronze to allow him to help in cleaning up the little puggle. He watched closely as Bronze examined the baby's underbelly to notice patches of fur still missing and not fully developed. "Congratulations, though; it's a little girl." Bronze hadn't noticed the child crying, but when he leaned in closer, he did hear and see her breathing. He even moved his finger to her tiny hands and feet to see her react, so she appeared fine. He hid his relief in the matter as he looked through his black hair at his friend. "She's alright. She was just early. Part of her fur is missing," Bronze continued as he swaddled the newborn. "Looks like she's just not fully developed yet fur wise, but it should develop in the coming days—eyes included."

"I thought it was…normal for babies to cry when they are born?" Elli-An commented a bit nervously. She hated the idea of her daughter being sick over something she might have done wrong during her pregnancy.

"Even babies can be different like most grown folks." Bronze smiled as he handed the child over to her mother. "She responds to me touching her, and you can see and hear that she's breathing just fine. All the same, I would enlist in the help of a healer to be safe. What do you plan on naming her?"

Elli-An smiled with relief that washed over her like a cool, summer breeze, at the feel of her daughter moving slightly in her arms. "Lily-An," she answered without hesitation as she kissed her daughter's forehead. "If we had a girl, we were going to name her Lily-An."


	2. Chapter 2

"Can I hold her?" Lola-Na asked, eagerly reaching for the swaddled Lily-An when Matsu-Na had offered for the family to come over for dinner.

Elli-An smiled at the young child's eagerness, but she couldn't help but feel nervous all the same as she sat there in the wheelchair with her daughter. Quill gave a reassuring nod to his wife with an added squeeze to her shoulder to let her know it would be fine before Elli relented. "Just be careful, sweetie; be sure to cradle the head."

Lola-Na opened her arms to accept the newborn. Looking down at the tiny child, she watched as the small Lily-An moved her fingers just a bit to show she was dreaming. "She's so cute!" she squealed, sitting down on the sofa next to Elli-An's wheelchair.

"We appreciate the offer for you inviting us over for dinner, Matsu-Na and Bronze," began Quill with an appreciative smile, "but, you really don't have to go through this much trouble for us."

"Don't be silly," Matsu-Na insisted with a wave of her hand from where she was in the kitchen. "You just had a baby, and, since that midwife was incapable of even arriving on time, I don't think I'll trust her to continue to check in on you and the little one."

Bronze chuckled to himself at how irritable his wife sounded about the ordeal. "You know it wasn't her fault. One of her patients was giving birth a bit earlier than planned. She couldn't be two places at once."

"Still, she could have sent somebody—anybody," Matsu-Na grumbled as she started chopping away at the mushrooms and carrots she was going to put in the salad. "Anything could have happened without you there, Bronze."

"And we thank you for that," said Quill as he stayed by his wife's side, since she was still recovering. "I do owe you a favor, that's for sure."

Hearing his friend say such a thing, Bronze raised his brow slightly as his thoughts went back to Syrup. "Actually, now that you say that—I do have something I could use help with before dinner, if that's alright?" Seeing Quill look to his wife, Bronze waved him over. "Elli-Ah will be fine. My wife is here in case anything happens." Walking over to the coat rack, he grabbed up his coat and scarf before tossing Quill his. "It shouldn't take long."

Following behind Bronze, Quill made his way out through the snow and to the barn. He remained a bit baffled about what it was his friend needed from him. "You know it's been years since I last worked with chocobos, Bronze," Quill felt need to remind him. "What exactly can I help you with?"

Stopping at Syrup's stall, Bronze pointed at the maple colored bird. "Syrup has been acting funny lately, and I am assuming it is because she is pregnant."

Seeing a chocobo and hearing the word 'pregnant' in the same sentence made Quill flinch. "You're not going to make me get in there…are you? She trusts you more than she does me." When Bronze didn't answer right away, Quill continued in his defense: "My aunt nearly lost an arm to one of those birds when she was dumb enough to get close to a pregnant chocobo!"

"Sorry, I just wanted to see your reaction for a moment," Bronze teased only to have Quill slap him playfully a few times with his cowboy hat he had on. "Alright, alright," he chuckled, raising his arms to stop the assault. "What I need for you to do is slip something in her feed for me while I keep her occupied." Walking down to his workbench, Bronze hunted through the cabinets to find the pills he would need to knock Syrup out for awhile as well as his rubber gloves that were there nearby his lamp. He hurried back to Quill's side to hand over the bottle he carried. "Just pop in five of those into her feed bucket. She's such a glutton that she'll gobble them down in no time at all as long as she doesn't notice you doing it."

Quill nervously looked back at Syrup to notice her big, black eyes staring right at them and her feathers separating with an irritable hiss. "Are you…sure it is safe to go in there? She could still attack you."

"Just stand back," Bronze insisted as he opened the door of the stall a bit to let just himself squeeze through. "I've gotten enough injuries in my time to learn how to approach these chocobos regardless of what physical and or mental state they are in."

The bird, staring at her master closely, let out a low, territorial sounding imitation of a growl. Bronze knew one wrong move would cause the bird to snap with that powerful beak of hers, and he could easily get hurt from it. "It is okay, Syrup," he said softly, keeping his hands for her to see. "I am not going to hurt you." Bronze watched her territorial stance carefully. She kept it for a few minutes until he was able to finally place his palm upon her beak to stroke it gently. "See? I'm not going to hurt you," he reassured her.

Quill watched as Bronze moved the attention of the bird away from her feed bucket so that he could slip the pills into it without her noticing. He knew birds were no dummies. If they saw someone messing with their feed, they would peck away at it carefully and find what was put into it.

"That a girl," Bronze cheered, rubbing her neck gently to ruffle up her maple colored feathers. Shifting his attention to Quill for a moment, he asked: "Did you finish? Did you bury it deep enough?"

"Yeah, it's done," said Quill as he backed away from the feed bucket. "Now, hurry up and get out of there. She's making me nervous."

As Bronze did so, he thought for sure he could wait for the medicine to be consumed and take affect, but the sound of his wife's voice beckoning the two to dinner halted the idea. "Well, dammit," he muttered mostly to himself, but Quill could obviously hear him as well. "I guess I'll have to come back and check on her." Removing his gloves, he tossed them in the trashcan near the entryway of the barn. "Remember to wash your hands, or my wife may very well take your head off," Bronze teased.

"Will that medicine still be in her system when we come back?" Quill asked as he followed him back towards the house.

Opening the door for Quill, he allowed him in first before coming in behind him. "It should. It's pretty strong stuff. It doesn't just wear right off."

Overhearing the conversation as Matsu-Na helped wheel Elli-An to the table, she scoffed. "So it was Syrup you were checking on? I should have known. You both need to wash your hands though before you dream of touching my food." When she heard her husband about to retaliate the idea for himself, she shot him a disapproving look that made Bronze quickly swallow his words. "Gloves or not, I want you to wash them," she ordered, as if to read his mind.

Quill couldn't help but laugh to himself at how easily Bronze followed his wife's orders (not to mention the look on the breeder's face). If anything, it only rewarded him with a playful smack upside the back of his head.

When dinner was over and Quill and his family had returned to their home, Matsu-Na found her husband gone from the house. "Lola-Na?" she called to her daughter. "Can you go to the barn and check on your father? I am sure he's out there looking at Syrup again."

"Okay, mommy!" said Lola-Na eagerly as she slid off of the sofa to hurry to the coat rack to grab her warm, wool coat and mittens before heading out in the snow to make her way to the barn.

Sure enough, just at Syrup's stall, she could see the oil lamp hanging in place of where the empty feed bucket usually was kept. Her breath upon the air, she called out to her father as she hurried down the long row of stalls on either side of her. "Daddy! Daddy!" Making it to the stall her father was in, Lola-Na looked at the large bird lying down in such an awkward way. Syrup was resting upon her side, and she had never known birds to do that—even when sleeping, as they usually just craned their head under their wings with their legs buried underneath them. "Daddy…?" she said, a bit confused.

Bronze looked over at his daughter with a warm smile that could be seen in the dim lighting. "Hey, sweetheart." He was stroking the bird's long neck gently to sooth the drugged chocobo hen. Seeing the concerned look on her face, he reached out to her. "It's okay. She's just sleepy."

Lola-Na stepped onto the straw carefully as she came closer to her dad. "Why is she sleeping funny then? She looks like she's sick…" Three years ago, Lola-Na remembered when one of their older chocobos was getting too old to even handle staying on his legs, so he started resting on his side. Her father had told her if the old bird wasn't back on his talons come the next day, he was probably saying he was ready to go.

"Neh, she's not sick," Bronze assured her. "She's just on medicine that made her drowsy, and she's not used to it, is all." Seeing her still unsure, he reached for her wrist to gently guide her to the long neck of the chocobo. "You can touch her. She's just groggy." He watched as Lola began to slowly pet her neck to where Syrup released a small chirp at the feeling. "See? She's okay."

"Why did you give her medicine?" Lola-Na asked as she kept petting the chocobo's feathers.

"I had to check and see if she had babies in her. Good news is, she finally does," said Bronze with quiet cheer in his tone.

"She's going to have babies!" said Lola-Na excitedly at the idea there would be more baby chocobos. "Can I have one?" When she assumed her father might be against the idea, she brought her hands together pleadingly. "Please…? Pleeeeeeeeeeeease!"

Bronze laughed as he raised his hand to prevent her from continuing with the begging. "Alright, alright—when Syrup has her babies, you can pick out _**one—**_."

"—Thank you, daddy!" Lola-Na interjected as she hugged him tightly before kissing his cheek several times.

Kissing his daughter on her cheek with his arm around her in a half hug, he smiled at Lola before nodding towards the stall door. "Let's get you back to the house. It's far too cold outside for you to be out here." Brushing the straw off of his backside, he escorted his daughter out of the stall before closing and locking it behind them. Removing the oil lamp from Syrup's stall door as well, he followed Lola-Na back to the house, so the two of them could retire for the day. 

* * *

As the months past, Elli-An watched as Lily-An grew and became curious about everything around her. The innocent look in her big, soft, violate eyes accompanied by a grin only accompanied by a few teeth made her relieved that the small child was alright. Lily's white fur had grown in just fine as well, showing small black marks of her father on her wavy dreadlocks, arms, back, and bits of her hair. Quill had often insisted that they get a healer to check over their daughter and make sure she was fine, but Elli-An insisted she was just perfect and there appeared to be nothing to fret about.

"The last doctor to check her over said she was merely premature," Elli-An reminded her husband, upon him insisting once more. "She's gained weight, and she's acting just fine—just like any other puggle."

Quill couldn't help but be nervous. Not only was it in his nature, but he worried about his daughter and his wife's health over anything. "At any rate, Bronze and Matsu-Na invited us over again for dinner," he reminded her as he knelt down to get a better look at Lily-An. He picked up her rattle to shake it for her to watch as she got that excited look as if she hadn't seen the thing four thousand times before.

"They are sweet people," Elli-An praised with a giggle at Lily's wide mouth and eyed react to the rattle and its alluring sound. "I wish they wouldn't go through the trouble, though. They already have all those chocobos and their own daughter to fret over than concern themselves about what we're doing."

"You know that's how they are," Quill reminded her with a smile. "If we even try to refuse, Matsu-Na, especially, will come over here and drag us to their house by our tails."

When dinner had approached, Elli-An wrapped her daughter tightly in two layers of blankets before braving the constant, harsh winter of the Icicle Inn area to make it over to Bronze and Matsu-Na's house. Upon knocking on the door, Matsu-Na was the one to answer and greet all of them before stepping aside to allow them quickly inside. "How are you two doing and the little one?" she asked, pointing to the fire she had going in the other room.

"We're all just fine, thank you, Matsu-Na," Quill greeted, hugging her tightly before he took notice that Bronze and Lola-Na weren't nearby. "Where are your other half and one and a half?"

Matsu-Na gestured back out the door as she turned back to dinner. "Back at the barn. Bronze is waiting for Syrup's eggs to hatch and since he agreed to let her have a bird, Lola-Na is right there with him."

Syrup had been carefully watching her three eggs with Chester right there beside her. "That one, daddy!" Lola-Na said eagerly, pointing to one of the eggs in the group.

Bronze chuckled with a raise of his brow. "That egg? Are you sure?" he asked, as she noticed she was pointing to the one in the center.

"Yeah!"

As soon as she had agreed upon it, Bronze noticed that the egg started to shake and crack. "Well, look at that, Lola! It knew you were waiting for it to hatch!" he chuckled, stroking his beard. Bronze knelt down to his excited daughter with a smile. "Do you want to get in there?"

Lola-Na almost couldn't get over her excitement of the idea that her chosen egg was finally hatching. "Yes, please!"

Picking Lola-Na up, he gently placed her on the other side of the stall door. "There ya go. Just remember, don't get too close. I have Chester and Syrup harnessed down so they cannot snap at me should I have to get in there to help any of their babies. They're very territorial of their young right now."

Squatting near the stall door, Lola-Na watched as the egg continued to shake until the beak finally poked through the shell. Her mouth ajar in awe and her eyes wide, she watched as the little baby chick finally crawled (more like, squirmed) from the egg with a few brown feathers on its body. "It has brown feathers!" Lola-Na pointed out excitedly, hearing the harness of Syrup jingle as she craned her mighty head down to her baby to clean it and welcome it into the world.

"Yup, it sure does," Bronze said, leaning against the stall door with one leg slightly crossed over the other. "Looks more like Chester, it does." Hearing the little bird chirp and seeing it move close to its mother, Bronze knew that it would be just fine, and he would have no reason to intervene. When the barn doors slid open, he turned his attention to them to notice Quill there. "God, what time is it?" he asked, unaware that it was probably that late already for Quill and Elli-An to be over.

"Close enough for dinner," Quill answered as he made his way to the stall Bronze was standing at to notice the little chick that was already begging its mother for food. "Well, I'll be. They're hatching already, eh?"

Bronze stretched a bit, as he admittedly was tired from staying up at odd hours of the night to make sure they didn't hatch without him nearby incase there was problems. "Appears so. Just the one so far, as the others haven't moved yet. It makes me nervous, admittedly."

Quill rubbed his friend's back supportively. "Neh, they'll be fine. Syrup rarely moved from them, and if she did, it was probably because she thought they were hatching. This one might just be an early riser."

"You're right," agreed Bronze as he scratched an annoying itch on his muzzle before pulling his daughter from the stall. "C'mon, you. Let's let the little one enjoy time with its mommy and daddy. We'll come back and check on them after dinner, yeah?"

"So, is that the one that you picked, Lola-Na?" Quill asked, as he was aware she was allowed one of the eggs.

"Yeah, that's the one!" she said excitedly.

Quill held the house door open for Bronze and Lola-Na as he asked, "What do you plan on naming it?"

"I dunno yet," Lola-Na admitted as she ran to find Lily-An. "I don't know if it's a boy or a girl!" Finding Elli-An, she looked into the woman's arms to see the little girl wrapped tightly in her embrace. "Hi, Lily-An!" Her green eyes shifted back up to Elli with a smile. "Hi, Elli-An! Can I hold her?"

Elli-An stifled her laugh at the predictable question. He had become the norm with Lola. "Alright, Lola-Na—there you go." She knew telling the young girl to be careful was something Lola-Na expected as well, so Elli-An refrained.

Lily-An's curious eyes shifted to Lola-Na and that little smile graced her muzzle at being held by that familiar face she had seen almost every week. Since Lily was still getting a handle on walking, Lola didn't mind setting her down to hold onto her hands and help her stay balanced. "Just like that!" Lola-Na cheered between them as Lily-An slightly wobbled as she stood.

As soon as dinner was over, Bronze retreated quickly back out to the barn. He was more than relieved to see the other two eggs had hatched just fine as he was dining. With the parents firmly harnessed and prevented from moving much, Bronze worked on earning Syrup's trust before touching the baby that Lola-Na had claimed as her own bird. He heard that unmistakable warning growl (mostly from Chester), and he did his best to act as nonthreatening as possible.

"It's okay," he soothed, touching Syrup's beak sweetly while looking up at Chester on occasion. "I just want this one for now." Bronze was aware they both probably weren't sure what he meant. If anything, he figured it would be a big responsibility for Lola-Na, but he wanted her to understand what it meant to be a breeder at least.

When Syrup and Chester didn't make anymore aggressive noises or sounds, Bronze slowly began to cradle the partially, brown feathered chick into the blanket he had in his arms. Each disagreeable movement or sound they made, he would stop and try to sooth the idea before continuing till he finally was able to leave the stall with the small bird in his arms. It was about the size of a small dog and still getting used to its big talons by wiggling them about. "Easy there, little one," he grunted as the chocobo would continue to squirm about.

Since Elli-An and Quill decided to stay the night, Bronze was careful of the chocobo chick as he made his way inside of the house with it. Matsu-Na instantly had to take a double take at the creature in his arms. "No…Bronze, what are you doing with that thing!" she exclaimed, not used to chocobos of any size in her home.

"Relax," he insisted as he fixed the squirming bird in his embrace once more. "It's not going to do anything, and this is Lola-Na's bird."

Lola-Na was in her bedroom with Lily-An lying in the bed with her for the time being, as she read one of her chapter books to the nine-month-old. When she heard her door open, she put the book away quickly when she saw her bird being held by her father. "Daddy, you got my chocobo!"

"Yup!" he put the little bird down at the foot of the bed. "He's still a bit skittish and just getting used to his surroundings, so don't make too many sudden movements around him."

"Is it a boy?" Lola-Na asked, noticing the use of the gender.

"He sure is," said Bronze with a smile as he worked on removing the snow from the chocobo's body.

"It looks like cocoa with marshmallows on it with the snow on its body," the young girl laughed as Lily-An crawled closer to the chocobo with an interested look in her eyes.

"Maybe that's what you should name it then," Bronze teased, continuing to pet the chick to settle it. "Now, Lola-Na, this is your bird—nobody else's, okay? It's not mine, and it's not mommy's." His tone was serious as he spoke, wanting his daughter to understand what it was he was offering. "I will help you when you need me to, but only if you need me. You're going to be the one to feed him, water him, clean up after him, and play with him. I will write up a schedule for you, so you'll know when to feed him and take him outside, okay? I'll let you keep him in the house, but only until he gets too big."

"Thank you, daddy!" Lola-Na praised, hugging her dad tightly.

Lily-An reached her little hand out across the covers to touch the big animal resting there on the covers. She liked the feel of the feathers more than the skin that was mostly showing. She giggled when those big, black eyes of innocents landed on her with a small chirp.

Lola-Na saw that the bird was fine with both her and Lily-An touching him. "We'll be one big, happy family with Cocoa!"


End file.
